This was the best game Tulane has played against a quality opponent in Willie Fritz' two years. I especially loved the decision to throw on third-and-9 on the final possession rather than running the clock down, punting and counting on a defensive stop that might not have come. Tulane went for the win right there and got it.
Dontrell Hilliard became the fifth Tulane running back to go over 1,000 yards in a season. Terren Encalade had the 12th biggest game for a receiver in school history and the biggest since Ryan Grant four years ago. And the Wave still has a chance to go to a bowl.
WILLIE FRITZ
"I'm just really proud of the guys. This was a tough one. They're all tough. We did a good job answering offense and defense. It was a huge pass play there at the end, a huge run after catch by Terren (Encalade). Then there at the end with the fourth-and-one-and-a-half, a big stop. We had a lot of seniors that had great games. Lawrence Graham's doing great, too, and that's a blessing as well. We're really excited about the win. It puts us into a big opportunity for next week, so this will be an easy week to coach, which is outstanding."
Where does this win rank for you in your short time here?
"I don't know. It might be the best one, I guess. I don't know. We needed a win like that as well. We've had some tough luck this season. I'm just happy for the seniors and happy for all the guys. It was a hard-fought game. It really was. It's a tough league. Everybody's pretty good. If you're not on point, you are not going to win, so I'm just happy with the outcome."
Jonathan Banks was decisive from start to finish, either when he threw or ran. Is that the way you want to see him play?
"One of our best plays is when everybody's covered and he takes off and runs. I think he converted four maybe tonight on third and pretty long. When we needed 10, he got 11. If we needed 8, he got 9. Also I think he's starting to understand the rhythm of RPOs and seeing the pre-snap look and giving or throwing or whatever the case may be, so he did some really good things."
You could have run it on third down at the end and bled the clock since Houston had no timeouts left but you went for the pass instead and converted it to clinch the win. What was your thought process?
"We just felt like we didn't want to get in one of those situations where we're trying to get a stop and hold on and all that other stuff. We'd had some success throwing the football, and it was good execution by the offense. Jonathan bought a little extra time to get out of the pocket, and it was a great catch."
Can you talk about Encalade's performance?
"He had a really good game. He's getting a little better each and every week. You know, we had a tough one there at the end of the first half. We'd like to just throw it away when they had it covered. We had a chance to go one more play, and we extended the play a little bit and had to kick the field goal, but that's part of learning with everybody getting in those kind of situations because every one of them is unique. But Terren had a very good game. He's tough. He's competitive. They were playing a lot of zone against us and there were some open areas."
You came up with two big fourth-down stops. How pivotal were those?
"There were a lot of big plays on both sides of the ball. I thought we also had some good punts and kick coverage as well. We made them go the long field a few times, so we knew we were going to have to play like that in all three phases in order to win. They are a talented squad."
How important was it for your defense to not break after giving up some big plays?
"Yeah, we didn't start real good in the first half or the second half. We gave up some big plays in between the 20s but we really made some big plays in the red zone, help them to field goals or stops which were huge for us."
Dontrell Hilliard became the fifth running back to gain 1,000 yards in a season here. How happy are you for him?
"That's great for Dontrell. He's had a tremendous career here and we just want to have a great week of preparation and go after it next week and hopefully allow these guys an opportunity to play in a bowl. I know that's a big goal for them, and it's here right now. It's great to play meaningful games in November and especially good to have your last game be very meaningful."
Can you talk about Kendall Ardoin. He had a couple of good blocks for you?
"Yeah, he did a good job. Those guys are kind of unsung heroes for us and also our receivers did a nice job blocking downfield for us as well. We did a few bubbles to the outside where the widest guy--a lot of times it was (Darnell) Mooney--had to sustain that block for a long time. Kendall had some good blocks, and so did Charles Jones."
It's not a big class of seniors, but particularly on defense there are a lot of senior starters. What have they meant to this program the past two years?
"Well, they are easy to work with. When you get a new coach come in, it's tough. They have to embrace the coach, we've got to embrace them and we've all done that, and they've been really easy to work with. I've had very few problems. These guys have been a real credit to the university. We want to bring in guys like that, and these guys certainly have had great careers here in the classroom off the field and on the field as well."
You gave Lawrence Graham a hug when he came back to the field in the third quarter. What was that feeling?
"I was just glad he's all right. He's a good kid."
Did he go to the hospital?
"He went to the hospital. They checked him out. I think his parents drove in, and he's doing well. He's doing good."
Dontrell Hilliard became the fifth Tulane running back to go over 1,000 yards in a season. Terren Encalade had the 12th biggest game for a receiver in school history and the biggest since Ryan Grant four years ago. And the Wave still has a chance to go to a bowl.
WILLIE FRITZ
"I'm just really proud of the guys. This was a tough one. They're all tough. We did a good job answering offense and defense. It was a huge pass play there at the end, a huge run after catch by Terren (Encalade). Then there at the end with the fourth-and-one-and-a-half, a big stop. We had a lot of seniors that had great games. Lawrence Graham's doing great, too, and that's a blessing as well. We're really excited about the win. It puts us into a big opportunity for next week, so this will be an easy week to coach, which is outstanding."
Where does this win rank for you in your short time here?
"I don't know. It might be the best one, I guess. I don't know. We needed a win like that as well. We've had some tough luck this season. I'm just happy for the seniors and happy for all the guys. It was a hard-fought game. It really was. It's a tough league. Everybody's pretty good. If you're not on point, you are not going to win, so I'm just happy with the outcome."
Jonathan Banks was decisive from start to finish, either when he threw or ran. Is that the way you want to see him play?
"One of our best plays is when everybody's covered and he takes off and runs. I think he converted four maybe tonight on third and pretty long. When we needed 10, he got 11. If we needed 8, he got 9. Also I think he's starting to understand the rhythm of RPOs and seeing the pre-snap look and giving or throwing or whatever the case may be, so he did some really good things."
You could have run it on third down at the end and bled the clock since Houston had no timeouts left but you went for the pass instead and converted it to clinch the win. What was your thought process?
"We just felt like we didn't want to get in one of those situations where we're trying to get a stop and hold on and all that other stuff. We'd had some success throwing the football, and it was good execution by the offense. Jonathan bought a little extra time to get out of the pocket, and it was a great catch."
Can you talk about Encalade's performance?
"He had a really good game. He's getting a little better each and every week. You know, we had a tough one there at the end of the first half. We'd like to just throw it away when they had it covered. We had a chance to go one more play, and we extended the play a little bit and had to kick the field goal, but that's part of learning with everybody getting in those kind of situations because every one of them is unique. But Terren had a very good game. He's tough. He's competitive. They were playing a lot of zone against us and there were some open areas."
You came up with two big fourth-down stops. How pivotal were those?
"There were a lot of big plays on both sides of the ball. I thought we also had some good punts and kick coverage as well. We made them go the long field a few times, so we knew we were going to have to play like that in all three phases in order to win. They are a talented squad."
How important was it for your defense to not break after giving up some big plays?
"Yeah, we didn't start real good in the first half or the second half. We gave up some big plays in between the 20s but we really made some big plays in the red zone, help them to field goals or stops which were huge for us."
Dontrell Hilliard became the fifth running back to gain 1,000 yards in a season here. How happy are you for him?
"That's great for Dontrell. He's had a tremendous career here and we just want to have a great week of preparation and go after it next week and hopefully allow these guys an opportunity to play in a bowl. I know that's a big goal for them, and it's here right now. It's great to play meaningful games in November and especially good to have your last game be very meaningful."
Can you talk about Kendall Ardoin. He had a couple of good blocks for you?
"Yeah, he did a good job. Those guys are kind of unsung heroes for us and also our receivers did a nice job blocking downfield for us as well. We did a few bubbles to the outside where the widest guy--a lot of times it was (Darnell) Mooney--had to sustain that block for a long time. Kendall had some good blocks, and so did Charles Jones."
It's not a big class of seniors, but particularly on defense there are a lot of senior starters. What have they meant to this program the past two years?
"Well, they are easy to work with. When you get a new coach come in, it's tough. They have to embrace the coach, we've got to embrace them and we've all done that, and they've been really easy to work with. I've had very few problems. These guys have been a real credit to the university. We want to bring in guys like that, and these guys certainly have had great careers here in the classroom off the field and on the field as well."
You gave Lawrence Graham a hug when he came back to the field in the third quarter. What was that feeling?
"I was just glad he's all right. He's a good kid."
Did he go to the hospital?
"He went to the hospital. They checked him out. I think his parents drove in, and he's doing well. He's doing good."